Professional Notes and Announcements

PEN Membership Application

Would any authors of children's books or young adult novels or nonfiction who would like to join the writer's organization, PEN, please send their resume, a list of their published works and publishers and, if possible, a sample of their work (which will be returned) to: Norma Klein, 27 West 96th St., New York, NY 10025. Writers must have published two books to be eligible for membership.

Pathways: A Forum For Progressive Educators

Pathways, a publication from the University of North Dakota's Center for Teaching and Learning, invites contributions. The purpose of Pathways is to encourage educators to write from their own experience, to speculate about teaching and learning, to describe their own classrooms, to reflect on schools, and to explore the historical continuities which illuminate current practice. Children's responses to literature are of special interest. Articles should be about 1500 words.

Free copy available. Write: Pathways, Center for Teaching and Learning, Box 8158, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202. Published three times yearly, subscriptions are $5.00 for individuals, or $25.00 for 10 copies mailed to the same address.

Ch. L.A. Call for Papers

The Children's Literature Association Quarterly invites submissions for a special section on Orality and Children's Literature. Planned for Spring, 1988, the issue will be edited by Roderick McGillis. Submissions should reach the editor by July 1, 1987 at: Department of English, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive, N.W., Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4 Canada.

Children's Literature Course, U. of Southern Maine

The University of Southern Maine, Gorham, Maine, will sponsor a course July 15-17, 1987 entitled "IN CELEBRATION OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE: 1987." The program, now in its sixth year, will feature a faculty including Katherine Paterson, Molly Bang, Alvin Schwartz, and Ellin Greene. The program is designed for teachers, librarians, media specialists, and educational administrators who are interested in developing skills to involve children in literature. To be placed on the brochure mailing list, contact Joyce Martin, University of Southern Maine, 305 Bailey Hall, Gorham, ME 04038. Phone: (207) 780-5315.

Games That Tell Stories of Peace

"Instead of passively listening to songs and speeches on peace, children should be encouraged to participate in some activity which induces them to think creatively on how war can be averted and peace can be obtained," according to Professor Francelia Butler. Francelia Butler is Professor of Children's Literature at the University of Connecticut at Storrs and head of the Foundation for Contributed Thought on Peace, Incorporated, a non-profit organization which is sponsoring the making of "Peace" games by fifth to ninth graders in the 109 Secondary and Intermediate schools in Connecticut.

"The members of the Foundation hope that ultimately, children all over the world—people who are young enough to be changed in their attitude toward war—will be thinking of ways of making peace games and applying the same strategies to the world around them," Professor Butler adds. "Right now, everyone feels so helpless and passive."

In Connecticut, rules for the games will be distributed to the schools around September 1:

Early in the Spring of 1988, a banquet will be held in Storrs in Jorgensen Auditorium to which the winners, together with two adults, either parents or teachers, will be invited. The guests—approximately 400—will be entertained by prominent singers and actors. The winning games will be on display on the stage, after which it is hoped that the inventors will donate them for shipment to the children of the Soviet Union.

According to Professor Butler, already other states are working on similar plans for peace games, including Pennsylvania and Missouri.